US EPA releases draft proposal to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants: On Monday June 2nd, President Obama announced bold new goals that will cut power plant emissions 30% by 2030. This is incredibly exciting and we will be digging in to better understand the implications for solar. Individual states will be given the responsibility for developing a compliance strategy, so it is imperative that we all stay engaged and participate in this process in order to ensure that we are positioned for the greatest deployment and impact on our clean energy future!

Saturday May 31 marked the end of the legislative year and a lot happened the final week of legislation. Here’s the rundown.

SB103/HB2864 [RPS Fix]: The Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) has not been working as originally intended and procurements for solar and wind projects have been on hold for the past two years. A permanent RPS fix has been tabled until 2015 given the complex shifts occurring with Exelon and power in Illinois.

ISEA and our partners will continue to work to get this vital legislation back on track in order to achieve the 25% clean energy goal by 2025. This conversation starts NOW, not next spring so please roll up your sleeves and let legislators know how vital this fix is to you and why. ISEA will be sending out periodic reminders and specific requests over the next 9 months to keep this conversation alive and a top priority for the state! Please let us know if you need specific support at an event with your legislators.

HB2472 [Renewable Energy Resource Fund]: in lieu of a permanent RPS fix, the legislature has authorized the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) to hold a one-time supplemental procurement of $30 million in solar energy beginning Spring 2015! This funds SRECs purchases. The details will be worked out during public workshops which will begin on June 12th. All are invited to participate to be ensure this program is well designed. Please watch your inbox for details. If you tried to participate in RECAP but did not get in – this is your path toward a sustainable, sizeable solution!

ISEA ‘s goals for this short term solution are:
• Be a combination of New/Existing projects, Utility Scale/DG, Residential/Commercial
• Allocate 50% of the DG portion of the fund to systems <25Kw
• Provide contracts for a minimum 5 year period, possibly longer
• Authorized aggregators to broker between system owners and the state. The thresholds for this first round may differ from the full RPS strategy as it is a special procurement.
• Bring a solid REC price at public auction. If you were unable to get into to the RECAP program – Please participate in this process to ensure a strong clean energy future in Illinois.

This special procurement is an exciting first step and, although not everything that we may have wanted, a HUGE win for solar in Illinois! Thanks to all who supported the RPS fix as this would not have been possible without all of your hard work!